Shimbania wichgrafi ( Gruenberg , 1910) Lehmann & Dalsgaard, 2023

Lehmann, Ingo & Dalsgaard, Thure, 2023, Revision of Saalmulleria Mabille, 1891 (Lepidoptera, Metarbelidae) from Madagascar with the description of three new genera and fifteen new species, Evolutionary Systematics 7 (1), pp. 133-182 : 133

Shimbania wichgrafi ( Gruenberg, 1910) comb. nov.

Figs 3e , 6b , 7e

Hollandella wichgrafi Grünberg, 1910: Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, Heft III, 2. Mai 1910, 289-291: "Transvaal, Pretoria oder [or] Johannesburg, 1 ♂." Original combination.

Lepidarbela wichgrafi : von Dalla Torre & Strand, 1923, In: Strand, E. (Ed.) Lepidopterorum Catalogus, Vol. 4, Pars 28, 1. Mai 1923, page 6.

Lebedodes wichgrafi : Gaede 1929, In: Seitz, A. (Ed.) The Macrolepidoptera of the World, Vol. 14, page 502 + plate 78.

Material examined.

Type, male, [ Republic of South Africa], [Province Gauteng], "Pretoria oder [or] Johannesburg", no date, " F. Wichgraf S.G." [leg.] genitalia slide number 23/032009 I. Lehmann (ZMHU) .

Re-description.

Head: ventrally brownish-olive (without any chestnut colour), the rest is deep olive-buff, short scales with cream tips, glossy; eyes dark olive-brown without spots and surrounded by long hair-like scales of brownish-olive with a glint; a pair of rudimentary pits is present on lower fronto-clypeus, a pair of projections absent; pits behind labial palpi are narrow slits; antenna short, 0.37 length of forewing, bipectinate, branches long, 4.5 × width of shaft, not scaled, all branches are widely separated at base, 2.0 × width of branch; shaft covered with ivory-yellow scales dorsally; labial palpi long, slightly longer than half of eye-diameter, brownish-olive, at tip olive.

Thorax: Patagia deep olive-buff, forming a collar ring, scales with light grey tips; tegulae with long hair-like scales of dark chestnut with a light lilac glint. Metathorax with a crest of deep olive-buff scales mixed with scales of ivory-yellow and cream. Hind legs deep olive-buff with fine hair-like scales with light grey tips, on lower part of tarsus dark chestnut dorsally; with two pairs of tibial spurs of unequal width and length, upper pair broad, ca. 1.3 mm and 1.0 mm long, lower pair narrow, ca. 1.2 mm and 0.9 mm long. Forewing length 19.0 mm and wingspan is 42.5 mm. Forewing upperside largely light yellowish-olive on outer half of wing, mainly olive buff on inner half, with a light golden glint towards termen, costal margin distinctly coloured with light yellowish-olive and few dark olive striae; below first half of 1A+2A is a dark chestnut patch; forewing with very narrow and dark olive lines from costa to dorsum, radial veins distinctly marked with dark olive, CuA2 narrowly dark olive; above the end of CuA2 is a small patch of dark olive extending through the end of discal cell and towards costal margin; a dark olive “Y” -shaped subterminal patch, broadly oval, from R3 to near end of CuA1 and hence, with a short stalk; termen without lunules; cilia short, 1.0 mm, olive-buff with a glint. Underside of forewing is olive-buff with a golden glint. Hindwing upperside is pale olive-buff with a light golden glint; cilia as in forewing; underside as in forewing.

Abdomen: Pale olive-buff with hair-like scales of ivory-yellow and cream with a light golden glint; abdominal tuft with hair-like scales of olive-buff, short, 1/5 length of abdomen. Genitalia with very long and narrow uncus, 90% of length of whole gnathos, narrow graben-like surface ventrally is present as well as a thickening in front of the uncus tip ventrally. Gnathos has gnathos arms that are large, one arm 40% the size of valva; upper part of the gnathos arm is a long band that is as long as 40% of basal width of valva, the lower part of the gnathal arm does not touch the other arm, it is of broad triangular shape with a pronounced thorn-like structure at tip and one short thorn-like structure behind it at middle, the base of the lower gnathal arm is 70% of the basal width of valva; the gnathal arms are connected ventrally by a narrow sclerotized band that is as broad as 25% of the transtilla and is widely bifurcated at the middle. The Gnathos arms end above the dorsal edge of the transtilla. The valva is elongated, broadly rectangular with a dorsal edge of 1.3 × the length of uncus, ventral edge of valva not strongly bent inwards at half of ventral edge, with a tip that is broadly rectangular; sacculus not pronounced, narrow, weakly sclerotized, short, 30% of length of ventral edge of valva; juxta well developed, with two ear-shaped lobes and a short narrowly V-shaped emargination, tips of lobes rounded. Phallus large, as broad as 35% of basal width of valva and 20% longer than costal width of valva, bent upwards at tip distally, vesica without cornuti.

Diagnosis.

Shimbania wichgrafi is a small species if compared to species of Shimbania occurring north of the Limpopo River. The genitalia of S. wichgrafi has a unique character combination, namely a long and narrow uncus with a thickening ventrally (in lateral view) and a broadly elongated rectangular valva with a broadly rectangular end. In contrast, the end of valva is broadly rounded in S. durbanica . The latter species has valvae with a dorsal edge of 2.0 × the length of uncus, but in S. wichgrafi it is only 1.3 × the length of uncus. Furthermore, S. durbanica can be separated by its very broad tegumen, representing the broadest among all species of Shimbania presented herein (it is broader than the length of the upper band-like structure of the gnathos, viewed ventrally).

Distribution.

Shimbania wichgrafi is only known from areas in or around Pretoria (altitude 1.226-1.526 m), or Johannesburg (altitude 1.418-1.719 m), located ca. 40 km south of Pretoria and ca. 540 km west from the coastline of the Indian Ocean. The habitats in both areas belong largely to the "Central Bushveld" sensu Rutherford et al. (2006) (Savanna Biome) and "Mesic Highveld Grassland" sensu Mucina et al. (2006a) (Grassland Biome) including scattered small patches of "Northern Afrotemperate Forest" sensu Mucina and Geldenhuys (2006) on mountain kloofs and small ridges. In contrast to all other habitats of species of Shimbania these areas experience a frequent occurrence of frost. Generally, woody shrub and tree species increase with a higher surface rock cover and/or might increase due frequent cattle grazing. If trees are present, only small species occur in the two former biomes, e.g. Acacia caffra Willd. ( Leguminosae - Mimosoideae ), A. nilotica (L.) Willd. ( Leguminosae - Mimosoideae ), A. tortilis (Forssk.) Hayne ( Leguminosae - Mimosoideae ), Protea caffra Meisn. ( Proteaceae ), Vangueria infausta Burch. ( Rubiaceae ), while the forests comprise tall trees, e.g. Olinia emarginata Burtt Davy ( Oliniaceae ), Podocarpus latifolius R. Br. ( Podocarpaceae ) and Rothmannia capensis Thunb. ( Rubiaceae ). Many of such habitats that existed before the year 1910 are no longer present or are highly dissected today due to the two large cities. It is likely that the collecting site does no longer exist and that S. wichgrafi is potentially threatened.

Based on its distribution, S. wichgrafi can be classified as a submontane and montane species that occurs at the borderline of the "Zambezian regional centre of endemism" and the "Kalahari-Highveld regional transition zone" sensu White (1983).

Figures

Figure 3. a. Shimbania wanjakinuthiaae sp. nov., holotype, male, Republic of South Africa, Province KwaZulu-Natal, ca. 5 km north of Hluhluwe, probably collected on Hluhluwe Farm; b. S. durbanica (Hampson, 1910), comb. nov., male, Republic of South Africa, Province KwaZulu-Natal, Durban; c. S. durbanica (Hampson, 1910), comb. nov., female, Republic of South Africa, Province KwaZulu-Natal, Durban; d. S. krooni sp. nov., holotype, male, Republic of South Africa, Province Eastern Cape, Port St. Johns; e. S. wichgrafi (Gruenberg, 1910), comb. nov., " Type ", male, Republic of South Africa, Province Gauteng, Pretoria or Johannesburg; f. S. nigeriaensis sp. nov., holotype, female, Nigeria, locality unknown, probably collected at the coast as " 1 m " on the label might represent the altitude.

Figure 6. Wing venation: a. Shimbania kerstinhempae sp. nov., holotype, female; b. S. wichgrafi (Gruenberg, 1910), " Type ", male (all drawings by I. L.).

Figure 7. Female postabdominal structures and male genitalia in a not pressed condition: a. Eberhardfischeria husemanni sp. nov., paratype, female; b. Saalmulleria stumpffi (Saalmueller, 1884), " Type ", female; c. Shimbania kerstinhempae sp. nov., holotype, female; d. Morondavania mineti sp. nov., paratype, male, with aedeagus below; e. S. wichgrafi (Gruenberg, 1910), " Type ", male, with aedeagus below (all drawings by I. L.).